Officers at center of school safety debate

HARRISBURG - The hiring of specially trained officers to patrol school corridors is emerging as a central issue in the debate in Pennsylvania over school safety since a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school two months ago.

Other options being considered by educators and state lawmakers include putting locks on doors, placing more surveillance cameras in hallways, expanding mental health and conflict resolution services for students and implementing and standardizing school emergency response plans.

Placing officers armed or unarmed in school buildings is the most contentious of the options.

Advocates say officers are the best deterrent to intruders and ensure a quicker response time than calling police.

Critics say the presence of school officers increases the likelihood a student will come into contact with the juvenile justice system and are less effective than programs that focus on resolving conflicts.

Some of these issues were explored last week at a school safety forum sponsored by local officials at Mid Valley Secondary Center.

Currently, 234 school districts, charter schools, vo-tech schools and intermediate units employ one or more school police officers, school security officers or school resource officers in their buildings, according to the state Department of Education. Of some 1,923 school officers, 275 are authorized to carry a firearm.

At a recent Senate hearing on school safety, Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17, King of Prussia, asked a school superintendent from western Pennsylvania how a security officer armed with a gun can confront someone armed "...like they are invading a small country."

"We are looking at it mainly as a deterrent, not a guarantee," said Superintendent Michael Strutt of Butler Area School District.

Joseph DeLucca, president of the Luzerne County Intermediate Unit/Luzerne County Safe Schools Committee, agreed that school officers have a deterrent effect.

"The presence of an armed guard alone can act as a deterrent," he told senators.

Yet, an official with the American Civil Liberties Union warned that having school officers can lead to more students being arrested for minor offenses that would be better handled through the school discipline system.

School-based referrals to the juvenile justice system increased in districts that hired school officers following the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, said Andy Hoover, the ACLU legislative director.

Training of school police officers especially if they are armed is a key concern.

Butler Area has hired retired state troopers as school police officers and recently decided to arm them. The district encountered a legal hurdle with that decision, said Mr. Strutt. The state law authorizing school police officers to carry firearms specifies they have municipal police officer training.

Butler Area obtained an opinion from state officials that state police academy training is equivalent to that for a municipal officer, added Mr. Strutt. A local judge signed a district petition attesting to that.

Pike County Sheriff Philip Bueki told the Senate committee that school police officers should be allowed to recertify annually for the state municipal police officers training act so their education stays up to date. This isn't allowed currently under that law.

"For the safety of everyone involved, especially in a school environment, we need to have only the best-trained and certified individual when it comes to carrying a weapon into our schools," said Mr. Bueki in testimony.

Training for school officers should include instruction in adolescent behaviors so they can interact with students, testified Donald Smith, an official with the Harrisburg-based Center for Safe Schools.

State Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis suggested there's no one-size approach to school safety, hence Gov. Tom Corbett's proposal to allocate a share of the proceeds from the sale of the state liquor store for schools to use for a variety of safety measures.

Rep. Kevin Haggerty, D-112, Dunmore, is pushing legislation to spend $90 million in state funds to help districts place a school resource officer in elementary school buildings. He said some of the issues involving school officers and teenage students wouldn't apply to the younger students in elementary schools.

He said there's an urgency to protecting the elementary schools which are more vulnerable in the wake of Newtown.

"By providing state funding for the officers, we are making sure poor schools have the same resources for protecting their children as wealthier school districts," said Mr. Taylor.

Mr. Haggerty's bill is before the House Education Committee. Panel Chairman Paul Clymer, R-145, Perkasie, said the state should let school districts take the lead in devising their own safety plans.

"Let the school districts at this point of time come forth with a plan," he added.

Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com

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